Miles Bridges hit a three with 1.4 seconds left and De’Aaron Fox’s game winner was milliseconds late as the Charlotte Hornets beat the Spurs, 117-116.

The summary

Victor Wembanyama hit a fall away jumper to open the scoring, but the Hornets fired back with a very quick 8-0 run. They brought a ton of energy, and that gave the Spurs all sorts of problems on both ends of the floor. KJ Simpson checked in and threw in seven straight points for the Hornets as they built their lead as large as 19 points. The Spurs closed the quarter on a little run of their own, but the Hornets still led by 12 after one.

Stephon Castle spearheaded a charge by the Spurs to start the second quarter that pulled them within single digits of the Hornets. The home team answered with their own explosive stretch featuring a one legged three from LaMelo that was quickly followed by a Seth Curry three. When the dust settled for halftime, the Hornets still had their 12 point lead.

The third quarter ended up being much like the second; both teams traded punches throughout the period. Nick Smith Jr. hit a few jumpers through the middle of the quarter to help the Hornets pull away a bit, but Stephon Castle checked in and joined Jeremy Sochan to answer for the Spurs. Devin Vassell threw down a massive dunk in the final seconds of the quarter to set the margin to 11 points heading into the fourth quarter.

The Hornets’ lead started to slip about midway through the fourth, again thanks in no small part to the play of the rookie Castle. The Hornets looked a bit frazzled; Diabate and DaQuan Jeffries missed some easy bunnies inside and the team had a couple very sloppy possessions. Fortunately the Spurs kind of tightened up too once the game got close. They ended up tying the game on a De’Aaron Fox transition floater after the Hornets let up when Fox stepped on the endline.

The Spurs got the ball back after a foul call was overturned, and Fox hit a stepback jumper over Diabate to give the Spurs their first lead since they went up 2-0 to start the game. The Hornets took possession with 7.9 seconds. After a timeout on their first inbound attempt, Seth Curry inbounded the ball to LaMelo on the second try. LaMelo blew right past Sochan and kicked it to a wide open Miles Bridges in the corner. Bridges cashed in the triple with 1.4 seconds to play.

The Spurs got the ball in to De’Aaron Fox, who took one dribble to get away from Nick Smith Jr. before pulling up for three. He drilled the shot, but closer inspection revealed the ball was still on the very tips of his fingers when the buzzer sounded. No basket. Game over. Hornets win.

The good

The Hornets’ energy level was a joy to watch. Even undermanned, they outworked the Spurs and found ways to make plays despite the talent gulf. They looked to push the ball on offense and were swarming defensively. I’ve said this a few times in recent weeks, but you can start to see the fledglings of a good structure despite all the missing players.

Moussa Diabate and the Hornets as a whole did a really good job of limiting Victor Wembanyama. Wemby helped a bit because I don’t think he was nearly as aggressive he should have been. But still, he attempted nearly half of his shots from behind the 3-point line, and a number of his twos were jumpers as well. He blocked a handful of shots, as he does, but his overall impact was pretty muted.

Miles Bridges had another very strong game. Obviously he hit the game winner, which capped off another 25 point showing. He’s scored 20+ points in 12 of his last 14 games and is averaging nearly 23 points per game in that stretch.

Moussa Diabate gets another shoutout for his overall performance. He only scored nine points, but he managed to snare 15 rebounds and dished out a career high six assists. He’ll probably start the rest of the season. He started that on a high note last night.

KJ Simpson followed the second double digit scoring game of his career with his third. He did almost all of his damage in the first quarter and then got quiet, but it’s good to see him finding a way to make an impact.

Nick Smith Jr. is good again. He had 19 points and feels like one of the most reliable jump shooters on the team right now.

Speaking of reliable jump shooters, Seth Curry is automatic.

The Bad

The Hornets only attempted six free throws, and five of those came in the fourth quarter. They were clearly deterred by the absurd length of Wemby. Most forays to the basket stopped about ten feet short and ended in u-turns back towards the 3-point line. The Hornets overcame it, but it’s tough to win that way consistently.

LaMelo Ball went very cold at a very bad time. He played well overall, but he missed four or five straight shot attempts in the final few minutes of the game that could have made the game harder for the Spurs to reach.

What’s Next

The Hornets hit the road for the first time in weeks. They won’t play a home game again until March. The first stop is Detroit to take on the Pistons on Sunday afternoon.